Monday,
April 28, 2008
The Heart says Fiat 500.-
Common Sense and the Wallet says Hyundai
The
ANNOTICO Report
The
Italians are past masters in making chic, cheap cars. They exude the Italian
obsession with design, fashion and appearance and benefit from the bright
thinking that makes
In
a critique of the two lower cost cars on the Italian market. Common sense and
the wallet says the Hyundai. The heart says Fiat.
Two Small Cars, One Big Decision
By
Frederic Manby
April
27, 2008
WE
SEE here an Italian car and a South Korean car. Except they
are not entirely that. The Fiat is built in
If
it's a case of mine is smaller than yours then Fiat's 500 is a real cute dinky.
The Italians are past masters in making chic, cheap cars. They exude the
Italian obsession with design, fashion and appearance and benefit from the
bright thinking that makes
Hyundai, on the other hand, is South Korean and follows the familiar route with
its car design, emulating what it hopes
Although the i10 looks the much larger of the two, there isn't much in it. It
is considerably heavier, and this shows in the way they drive and how they
perform.
Hyundai is conventionally upright, whilst the Fiat's tail slopes away and its
contours are rounded, in a deliberate homage to its spiritual sire, the origina l 500 from the 1950s. Fiat in the 21st century was
fascinated by the success of BMW's Mini in reprising the mood and magic of the
1959 Mini. The Mini and the Fiat 500 surged into the Swinging Sixties and the
emerging pop culture.
It is this mix of style and heritage which helps the Fiat wow, whereas the
Hyundai, with no such history of la dolce vita, passes without much attention.
The Hyundai is neat but fairly anonymous. However, when my son collected the
500 he found it surrounded by onlookers.
With two passengers and a weekend's luggage on board they
then drove 200 miles. I expected there to ensue a fair amount of grumbling and
back-stretching, but all three were alert and unruffled by the trip.
This 1.3 diesel model averaged 55mpg. It was quiet enough for none of them to realise it was in fact a diesel car. However, the entry
price is #9,300. Only the 1.2 petrol 500 comes cheaper, at #7,905. Whatever
else it is, and there is plenty to admire, the 5 00 is not a cheap car.
The exterior is attention-grabbing and when you look inside you find a matching
brightness. This white test car with body stripes in the Italian colours had a matching white synthetic fascia panel with
ivory instrument pods. The rest of the interior was light and lively.
Its nearest iconic equivalent is the modern Mini, but
the Fiat interior is cooler, less contrived, smarter and more appealing. It is
not, though, a physical rival to the Mini, which is the more substantial car
with much bigger engines and a meatier personality.
Supposing money is scarcer and you cannot afford the Fiat 500? Then you may
turn to the Hyundai i10. It is practical, roomier than the Fiat (en extra two
inches in shoulder width in the front seats), and prices range from #6,495 to
#7,595, depending on trim. All have the 1.1-litre 65bhp petrol engine which
delivers an official average 56.5mpg on two of them, and 119g/km of CO2,
meaning cheap road tax.
My test car was the Comfort version, fitted with a four-speed automatic
gearbox, which brought its price to #7,895. For this you get air conditioning,
electric windows, keyless entry, 14-inch alloys, front fog lights, and a
five-year warranty with unlimited mileage. Metallic paint was an additional
#325. That is quite a package of value for money.
The four-speeder is far from an exciting performer and also plays havoc with
emissions and performance. The i10 with manual gears is already quite lazy,
needing 15.6 seconds to reach 62mph from standstill. The automatic lengthens
that by three seconds, reduces average economy to 47.9mpg, which is not at all
bad, and hoists the CO2 emissions to 139g/km.
Small engines and automatic shifting bring compromises, and this Hyundai is par
for the field. It goes about its gear changing smoothly, but noise levels are
higher. Yet if you spend much of your time in slow traffic they are so much
easier than a manual gearbox. I drove it home from a busy city centre in thick
traffic and thought: yes, automatic cars are more restful. Just sit there and
steer.
Whilst offering more for your money than the Fiat, the Hyundai did not ride as
nicely, giving passengers a tougher time on patchy road surfaces. Other than
that, and its generic greyness, it was fine as
everyday transport.
Common sense and the wallet says the Hyundai. The
heart says Fiat.
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